By Mike Lehman, TTU Sports Information
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – It was a solid first day full of personal records at the Tennessee Invite for the Tennessee Tech outdoor track & field team Friday, as the Golden Eagles completed the first of two days of action in Knoxville with a steady helping of positives.
Veterans Anya Akili and Cayla Johnson got things started on the day, opening up action in the heptathlon by completing the first four events. Akili rounded out the day 10th overall with 2,589 points, showing her best performance by winning the 200-meter dash portion of the competition.
Johnson was right behind her teammate at the end of the day, ranking 11th with 2,553. She performed particularly well in the shot put, placing third in the event.
Competing in the long jump, rookie Sidnee Stanton continued her hot start to her Golden Eagle career, delivering an outdoor PR with a distance of 5.54 meters (18'2.25").
On the distance side of things, Helen Pacurariu-Nagy paced a group of four Golden Eagles that had solid performances in the 1,500-meter run. The Tech veteran just missed a personal-best mark by one second, clocking in at 4:50.47 for a top-20 showing.
Lauryn Jackson turned in a PR of 5:05.32 while Emma Bradford finished at 5:07.27 for her own personal best. Rounding out the group, Chloe Wade clocked a personal record of 5:08.60.
Veteran Rahab Sawe led a trio of Golden Eagles to big PRS in the 5,000-meter run, besting her own previous record in the event by a whopping 30 seconds with a time of 18:14.32. Maddie Long finished right behind, topping her previous best mark by more than 20 seconds with a new PR of 18:17.59.
Ava Costello also clocked in with a personal record, posting a time of 19:15.29.
Saturday's action at Tom Black Track will begin with multi-events at 9:30 a.m. CT, field events at 11:00 a.m., and running events at 11:00 a.m.
File photo by Thomas Corhern
